Topical Guide 18
Mark Dorset
Cover Illustrations
My mother, her chair, and her table began to fall in an arc, as if the lawn had been a rug someone had yanked from under her. My mother was wearing a white skirt and blouse and a look of surprise. Her arms were thrown out to the side, toward the falling table, and her legs were raised high in the air, flapping out of control. I could see the tops of her stockings and her garters and the pink flesh of her inner thighs. A glass of tea was in the air above the table, and beside it, drifting away from it, floated a clamshell ashtray under a cloud of ashes. I clapped and giggled again. Another kitten hopped out of the wagon.
Little Follies, “My Mother Takes a Tumble”
Here is the cover of the Warner Books paperback edition of “My Mother Takes a Tumble”:
And here’s your earworm for today, which could apply to the Beaker-Foote double-hoax and its outcome or to Peter’s Mother’s tumble. Your choice.
[more to come on Monday, June 7, 2021]
Have you missed an episode or two or several? You can catch up by visiting the archive.